by Lewis Ambrose

Journalist Alfredo Martínez has confirmed on Twitter that Barcelona will not be signing Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gündogan.

The Spanish journalist tweeted “Gündogan will not sign for Barcelona” on Sunday afternoon just hours after travelling back to the Spanish city with the new champions of Europe.

Ilkay Gundogan

Martínez is clearly close to the club – he travelled on the same plane as the team and even posted a photo of himself holding the Champions League trophy on the flight back to Spain.

Unwanted

Many reports in Spain and Germany had linked Gündogan with a switch to Camp Nou.

It was recently confirmed that the midfielder, 24, would be available this summer after he told Dortmund that he doesn’t wish to sign a new contract. His current deal expires in the summer of 2016 and the German club would be unhappy to lose him for free.

It has been said that Manchester United are close to deal to take the German to Old Trafford on a number of occasions but nothing has come of those rumours – Borussia Dortmund have since said that there hasn’t yet been a concrete offer for Gündogan.

The German midfielder missed over a year after suffering a back injury in August 2013 and, despite playing most of this season unscathed, it’s generally thought that he isn’t the player he was before his lengthy spell out.

This appears to be scaring clubs off.

Price

With Bild reporting that Bayern Munich are no longer interested in the midfielder his options appear to be very limited.

Arsenal have already been linked with the midfielder on a number of occasions. Most recently Bild said Arsenal will be able to ward off interest from other clubs with a good bid.

With other clubs seemingly lacking interest and just one year to run on his contract the deal will look even more attractive to Arsène Wenger and Ivan Gazidis – Gündogan should be available for a modest price.

There are no solid links just yet but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Arsenal make the most of this opportunity.